I don't suppose you guys will be at non-ironman iron distance events. I would sure like to visit a Kestrel booth at Beach2Battleship.

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You're not stuck in traffic. You ARE traffic.

We do visit as many expos as we can but this year we are focused on the IM events. Where are you located? We are opening up many new dealers this year so I can direct you to a shop to see the new bikes.

I am really looking forward to see this! I mean how many of us can see a design from 10 years ago?

I'm in Raleigh, NC. Performance Bike has started selling the Kestrels online but I haven't seen them in the shop yet. I'll keep watching.

I was most interested in picking up the free Kestrel gear. ;-)

3-4 days a week I'm reminded how much I love my Airfoil.

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You're not stuck in traffic. You ARE traffic.

Interesting response.

Well, since taking over Kestrel 10 months ago and spending a lot of time in the wind tunnel, these 10 year old designs still rank in the top 5 for what is now on the market today.

If you take the time to look at the "new" designs, you'll see many copy what Kestrel designed years ago.

So, 10 year old design or not, Kestrel remains a top contender.

I think your response to Swimfan was well calculated and very reasonable. I do, however, have some questions (that are serious and not sarcastic).

Understanding that the bike business (triathlon bikes especially), is driven a lot by gimmicks, meaning people want a technologically advanced bike that is aero dynamic and lightweight (something Kestrel certainly falls under) and something that looks "cool" or "new" or "flashy". People can say what they want about this and that, but it's hard to deny the fact that aesthetics plays a huge part in bike purchases, and if a company wants to stay competitive and in the spot light they have to develop bikes that meet the function requirements as well as the form requirements. So why not update the Airfoil Pro frame? How about a hinged headset? Or relocating the brakes? Or making the seat post a single width as opposed to aero on top and then normal seat tube on the bottom? You could even pair up with a company like Blackwell research and offer a special edition Airfoil Pro thats decked out with Blackwell stuff and painted all black or something along those lines. Heck, considering the complete bike is only $3500 (according to your website), you could easily charge another $1000 more if you made these upgrades, and still have a extremely competitively priced bike. These types of upgrades not only improve the function of the bike but also give it that "flashy look at me i have a fancy bike with a hinged headset and shiny stuff" look that a lot of people appreciate and look for when buying a bike. I just think there's a lot that could be done to improve the bike, and your business model. Now I haven't seen the new bikes you'll be showing at races, but are these ideas that have been tossed around?

I should say that while I enjoy a nice looking bike, I also appreciate a bike that performs well. I am riding an all aluminum Cervelo Dual and generally have a top 10 bike split at the races I do. If I wasn't in college and had a nice job, I'd probably be riding something much more expensive and flashy. Would my bike splits be any different? Probably not. While I understand that aesthetics don't do anything for your bike split (maybe a psychological boost), it does drive sales, and isn't that what you want?

Please don't take any of these comments as rude or critical, I've just thought Kestrel had a great design with the Airfoil Pro that could really be expanded to compete with some of the more popular bikes out there. I've always kind of wanted one but thought the design was just a bit tired. I've got tons of ideas and would love to discuss any of them with you.

Why add flashy stuff to a bike just to make it cooler or more hip? If those things add to the function of the bike and help to make it faster than by all means introduce them. If it doesn't and only makes it more expensive to build, maintain and harder for shops to work on then why do it. In the long run the more functional design will win out. you really can't appreciate the ride of the Airlfoil until you try it, it's stiff enough for me but really does not a lot of road shock out of my legs. In IM comfort is so important, yet it's stiff and light enough that it still feels great to fly on it in sprint races. I look forward to seeing the changes made going forward, but I hope they stay true to the original design of the bike! I'll be on mine for quite sometime until the newer and cooler Airfoil comes out and forces me to buy it...

MC

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http://www.mctriguy.blogspot.com

Trust me, no offense taken from Swimfan. My mom always told me if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all.

I've had 10 months to manage Kestrel - not a very long to make changes. I'm a calculated guy so I take things slowly and taking time to get in the tunnel has helped make my decisions for 2009 and how to move forward for 2010.

There is a lot to making changes to carbon bikes. Molds are expensive and tooling for new parts also add to the expense.

For 2009 and 2010 you will see changes and additional models. We have been visiting the A2 wind tunnel over the past few months to learn what works. What is "out there" as wind tunnel data has a lot of marketing behind it so my goal is to get real data and design from there. Many of the "topguns" in the industry are working with me to make Kestrel better then ever before.

Aesthetics are VERY important and I've hired one of the top designers in the industry. Not only will our bikes be fast, they will look fast.

Like I said in my email, the tunnel #'s are very good, sales are up 25% from last years #'s and we are working hard to provide our customers with excellent service.

Keep watching our site for updates and information.

Thanks,

I think you guys are in a pretty unique position with the Airfoil, and consequently with the brand. Unlike the big guys (Cervelo, Trek, Scott, Felt, etc), I think Kestrel has a much higher percentage of triathlon-only riders (I could be wrong, I know the Talon is a decent seller). I said this in a thread about the rumored Cervelo P4: being able to say you've got The Fastest bike carries quite the panache, and getting out of the UCI's rulebook opens up more areas for experimentation.

So I say, good for you guys. Bring out the best bike. If it doesn't have seat stays or a top tube or whatever the wind tunnel says is the fastest, do it (and test it and prove it to us). Triathletes will buy it and have bragging rights. Look at how many Titanflexes and Softrides there are still out there. There's a reason. There's also a reason so much is banned by the UCI: there's more speed available once you get outside of the double triangle design. Wow us, do something innovative.

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"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us"

Steven,

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE as a guy who has ridden Kestrel bikes for 19 years now (yes, I love my Kuota Tri bike which I race on, but still use my Kestrel 200SC with powercranks as my commuter), I make one request

BRING BACK THE KESTREL4000

This is "THE BIKE" that started it all. When I first saw Mark Allen on the 4000 I had to have one.

That bike is a 20 year old design and I would bet that it falls into the top 5 of all bikes today if you took it to the windtunnel.

What would it take to bring back a 20th anniversary edition of the Kestrel 4000. This bike was 20 years ahead of its time. Does Brent Trimble still have a patent on it?

Dev

Will any of your new bikes be at interbike this year?

Funny you should bring this up. When Steve Hed and I were @ Trifest, we were speaking about this exact frame. Ironically, it still is extremely aero. We happened to get one back for warranty so we tested it. Can't say it was top 5 but it made our top 10 list.

Trust me, we have a lot in the works over the next few years!

Our soft debut will be @ Interbike and HI and our traveling road show will begin in November where we will be visiting over 100 dealers throughout the USA.

Stay tuned...

Our soft debut will be @ Interbike and HI....

....so is a 20th anniversary edition of the Kestrel 4000 part of the lineup? Or would you have to kill me if you told me? Regardless, every carbon frame today is in some way a derivative of this beuaty....that was my first Carbon bike!!! I lost my carbon virginity to that Kestrel4000 and life has never quite been the same!!!

Edit, best picture I could find on the web...some guy in Japan owns this one:

Like my first car (1965 Mustang), I wish I still had my old 200EMS frame. It may have been a bit heavy but that was a real classic. Preston was certainly ahead of the curve in many ways. One of the real ironies in the bike biz why one of the real originators of carbon bikes nearly fell off the map before their hope resurrection. I recall my frame was actually made in Japan during the time Schwinn owned a majority share in Kestrel. I once recall Dan saying Kestrel had more owners/partners than Elizabeth Taylor…funny but true.

If you take the Cervelo P2C, it is basically a Kestrel4000 with slightly more aero tubes, tighter rear stay, slacker head tube with a corresponding longer front centre...in essence the P2C is a steeper and more aero Kestrel4000....but it took around 17 years for that progression.

Dev

Exactly! It's interesting to look at the new Scott and others that are now coming out with designs very similar to what the guys @ Kestrel did years ago. Obviously the pressure is on me now to continue to keep Kestrel @ the leading edge of design!

No pressure...just bring back the 4000 with the following very minor "upgrades":

• longer front centre
• shorter seat stay
• shorter head tube
• slightly slacker head tube
• vertical drop outs (yes keep them the same, those horizontal things suck)
• 2 bottle braze ons (bottle launchers suck and should be banned...)
• up to date kestrel fork
• make sure whatever grouppo you pick, it comes with a compact crank option :-)

OK, done. Offer it in the original white, and also offer the candy apple red, and jet black that was available in the Kestrel 200 Circa 1991. That's all you need to do...this will sell like hotcakes. Slowman will write reviews saying that "Kestrel is back" and Mark Allen will come out of retirement and win Kona on it!!!

Edit: What the heck am I telling the "competition" to do...disregard everything I said :-) :-) :-)

I'm looking forward to seeing the next generation of Kestrels, although it would be hard to replace my 300EMS. Will you be at the full Vineman this year? Is there a schedule of the events you attend on www.kestrelbicycles.com?